The Giving Plate started 16 years ago when Gary and Debra Kelso started a food bank with the hope of helping 500 local families. The nonprofit has been growing with its community ever since.
Gregory Prestel joined The Giving Plate in April as the executive director. He emphasized that his new role reflected the efforts of everyone, especially those who had been with the organization longer than he had. One of those people is Janae McMaster, The Giving Plate’s warehouse manager who has been working there for more than seven years.
“I’m proud, but it’s also humbling because the organization has existed for more than 15 years,” Gregory said. “To be able to take a leadership role for something that someone else established and now obviously the results show that it was built well.”
McMaster jumped in to share her story with her beginnings at The Giving Plate.
“It [was] like, wow, this could be something that really fulfills,” she said. “My heart is going to be really full and [this work] restores your faith in our community.”
The Central Oregon community is what gives The Giving Plate the opportunity to serve 2,400 households per month. That is over 7,800 individuals in June alone.
“We’ve been here through Covid and the fires and all of that. We were here and just watch[ed] the community truly rally around our mission,” said Janae.
“I stood at that back door every day,” McMaster said, pointing to the back of their warehouse in northeast Bend. “And people [were] constantly bringing food in.”
The nonprofit operates on the preventative side of homelessness, providing a way for people to pay their bills rather than spending money on groceries. Some 95% of The Giving Plate’s recipients are from housed, working class families.
The Giving Plate stands out in the community because of its unique model of food distribution. This model allows people to shop like regular supermarkets: grabbing a cart, looking around, picking what they would like. This allows a sense of autonomy and self-respect. Unlike other food pantries, the store is stocked with essentials including canned goods, but also fresh produce, eggs and milk.
“People aren’t treated any differently,” McMaster said. “It’s a safe space for them.”
But the team is what makes this nonprofit run to its fullest potential.
“This team works super hard. I mean it can sometimes not be so glamorous…[but] everybody shows up every day. We all have different lanes and we all execute those pretty well,” McMaster said.
The Giving Plate’s main mission is feeding the community, but it also serves to pull the community back toward each other, keeping its resources within the community Gregory emphasized.
When asked what they would like the community to know about the organization, Prestel says he wants people to know that the nonprofit exists and there’s room for everyone in the community to be part of it.
Runner-Up: NeighborImpact
The Giving Plate
Wed. 2-6pm, Thu-Fri 10am-4pm,B Sat 10am-2pm
Community store: 61470 S. Hwy 97, Bend
541-797-6883
thegivingplate.org
This article appears in Best of Central Oregon 2026 and the Source August 13, 2026.
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